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Monthly Archives: March 2008

Representative Bart Stupak of Michigan has made a Proposal for Reapportioning The Delegates in Michigan. It sounds kinda funny to me but I’ll toss it out there for you all to peruse. 53%, or 83 delegates would be doled out according to the January election results, The remaining 47%, 73Delegates, would be doled out based on “The National vote”AFTER all the Votes have been tallied. That would mean that Hillary would receive 47 delegates to Obama’s 36 from the Initial 83 delegates. According to What I know, with the Vote split almost evenly nationwide, it would, if it were to be counted from today’s perspective, probably be a 37-36 split in favor Of Obama, seeing how Sen. Obama had only taken the lead in Popular vote at the Last Primary in Mississippi. According to the CNN Story, it’s, including Florida, a difference of about 350,000 votes between Obama and Clinton in an election that has garnered about 36 million or so votes. Not sure what the numbers are exactly, I’ll look that Up for you when sometime during the next few days.

I would prefer to see the percentage go as it was originally in the Mid-January vote. I don’t want to hand Mr. Obama any extra delegates that He didn’t, wouldn’t or couldn’t have earned without special help from this apportionment. If this gets the job done, however, and finally gets the Votes counted and delegates seated, then so be it. I’ll take a less than perfect Delegate count over no delegate count anyday.

Now if we can get these three, Clinton, Obama, And Dean to agree On this, I can sleep a little easier, knowing that Democracy isn’t being Undermined by the Stupidity and self-righteousness of the Combatants here. And yes, they are combatants. They are both fighting hard for votes, are they not? Now all we have to do is get the Florida Primary figured out and we can all feel a little better about the Democratic party. Not that the party is bad or anything, but I am hoping that They’ve gotten over being sidetracked by the events of the past few weeks, between Wright and Race and Petty bickering whining bullshit from All sides here, And Howard Dean not doing nearly enough to get this Michigan/Florida crap finished. I don’t care how much he has done to get it finished either. Until it is Finished and those Two states delegates find a way to the Convention, He hasn’t done enough. That simple.

In International News, Robert Mugabe, President of Zimbabwe, looks for all the world like he has been beaten. That is the news at least from His Opposition. According to news That I heard this morning on BBC Radio, In accordance to rules put in place to make sure that election results are above board In That country, All results are Posted Outside of each polling place as soon as the votes are counted. And The MDC has looked at the numbers from approximately 85% of the polling places and According to the Report the report that I heard on the BBC This Morning, MDC Presidential candidate Morgan Tsvangirai had Approximately 57% of the Vote, with Robert Mugabe having 36% of the Vote, with the Remaining going to a Third party whose name I cannot at this moment remember.

In a side angle to this story, Troops had been initially moved around Zimbabwe to quell any potential violence from any Anti-Mugabe protests, but those troops, again from the same BBC Radio report, seemed to have moved aside. A telling move that says that the Army will Not Back Mister Mugabe if he tries to Fudge the election results. Happy news for Fans of Freedom everywhere. I hope that when the news finally officially breaks, that everything goes well for all the residents of That fine country.

The delay tells me that Something fishy is going on, and that Mugabe may still be trying something, but Until we get all the results and know all the facts All we can do is hope that right wins out. If it doesn’t though, what I heard from that radio broadcast tells me that there’s gonna be hell to pay and that strife and violence will rule the day. Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.

And Now For something Completely Different…. BASEBALL! The Regular Season, (for those who didn’t play in Japan) Began today. Two Postponements today. The Yankees/Blue Jays game was called On account of Rain before It got started, and The Cardinals/Rockies Game was Postponed with one out in the Bottom of the Third With St. Louis Up 5-1. Yankee game will be Played Tomorrow night, But i could find no news as to when the Cards Rocks Game will be replayed, Presuming it’ll be tomorrow tho.

Brad Penny and The Dodgers Bullpen combined on a 5 hit shutout of The Giants, And Barry Zito Gave up 8 hits over 5 innings to the Dodgers, including a 2 run Homer by Jeff Kent in the First. Johan Santana had a Successful Debut for The New York Mets, striking out 8 over 7 and 1/3 and helping the Mets defeat The Florida Marlins 7-2. For more baseball scores check here—> http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb

Life Is Good. Baseball Is Back. That means warmer weather is on the way, and That is a truly happy thing. Woke up at 5:00 p.m. after a long Night at the office, and after saying “Good Morning or something 🙂 ” To my wife, I turned on some baseball on xm. First thing I did was Listen to The very end of the Reds/D-backs game, Reds couldn’t do much against the new closer in Arizona Brandon Lyon, then listened to a very exciting End to The Cubs-Brewers Game. it was a scoreless tie going into the 9th inning, Then Kerry Wood gave up 3 runs On 2 hits. The Game looked over. The announcers were dejected. Bob Brantley (I Think it was him anyway) Sounded ready to cry. Then The Cubbies made a Comeback, a bloop, an Oops and a Blast brought them back and Tied things Up, The Homer run being hit By Kosuke Fukudome, who went 3 for 3 today. Brantley almost exploded When “F*ck you do me”(his name is actually pronounced foo-koo-doh-meh) hit the Home run. But they couldn’t win it. The Brew crew took advantage in the Top of the 10th on a Sac fly by Tony Gwynn.

A good Day all in all.

One last little blurb here. A few Happy Birthday’s to Hand Out. Chein-Ming Wang, the man who would have started today’s Yankee game, and will start tomorrow’s, turns 28 today. A Happy Happy also goes out to Ewan MacGregor, who turns 37, Al Gore, who turns 60, and Herb Alpert, who turns 73. And A happy don’t you wish you were still alive to enjoy a birthday to Joseph Haydn, who would be celebrating his 276th birthday, and Rene Descartes, who would turn 512 Today. One last B’day Shout out to Constantius Chlorus, called Chlorus the Pale, Roman Emporer and Father Of Constantine the Great, who would have turned 1,758 today. Many happy Returns! 😛

Run: No run or workout today. I was Tired as HELL when got home this morning. All the coffee in the world barely kept me awake for the trip home. I listened to the BBC intently and concentrated as hard as i could, and fidgeted and moved around so I could stay awake. I still don’t know how I walked five blocks to get milk after I fed the cats when I got home. I Got to sleep at 10:30 am and Woke up at 5P.M. , like I said, And listened to baseball and played a little guitar. By the time I got to thinking about running, It was too late. Plus, My foot is still sore.

Dammit.

Guitar: I played a bunch of songs, But that’s about it. From really simple structures, F Major/C Major/G Major,more of a finger-picking exercise thing but It’s simple and it sounds good. Really economical movements + Really nice sound = Content Rhino. Played My favorite little G7 sus 4/D7 sus4 stuff, noodled a Bit, Hit the Alvin lee thing that I beleive I mentioned two days ago. Did a few things using tenths that sounded kind of classical. It is actually this exercise that gave me the 7sus4 stuff I mentioned, where it evolved from. Simple exercise. Play all the Natural Notes On the 5th string. Now, On the second string, at the same time, play the tenth of each Note simultaneously. Example For the Open A, play the C on the second string, first fret, For the B (2nd fret 5th string), play the D(3rd fret 2nd string), For the Bass C, Play the E on the Fifth fret of the 2nd string. You can also move this exercise over to the next set of strings 4th and 1st, after this, or move to the Open E with the C on the third fret of the 5th string. Play it how you like. I have fun with it whenever I play it.

I have yet to Hit the exercises. I will, but I won’t do as much today as I normally would. I took a piece of skin off of the first finger On my left (fretting) hand at work, and it is a Little sore. Maybe a Little less playing the next day or two while it heals. One Final music Thing. I have been doing a Bit more digging On The site i checked yesterday, and This one is a Keeper Ladies and Gentlemen. I’m gonna add a Link on the Side of this page so you, (or i, or anyone for that matter) can get to it at a moments notice. It has a Lot of good stuff. A LOT. Here’s the Link for you, Enjoy! —> http://www.guitarology.com/

That’s It for me. Jam On! Play a note or 300 for Me!

Today’s Nuggets: We cannot have a situation where people decide to sit in places not allowed and when police remove them they say no. We can’t have that. That is a revolt to the system. Some are crying that they were beaten. Yes you will be thoroughly beaten. When the police say move you move. If you don’t move, you invite the police to use force. Robert Mugabe

It is impossible to live a pleasant life without living wisely and honorably and justly, and it is impossible to live wisely and honorably and justly without living pleasantly. Whenever any one of these is lacking, when, for instance, the man is not able to live wisely, though he lives honorably and justly, it is impossible for him to live a pleasant life. Epicurus

Latest Edit: 11:01 p.m. 3/31/08

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I have a new hero. James Carville. Ok, he’s not new, and he’s not really a hero by any stretch of the imagination, But I just finished reading an article he wrote for the Washington post which i think is both an intelligent and refreshing. In The Op Ed Piece Titled “Disloyalty That Merits an Insult” Mr. Carville points out the reactions to His calling Bill Richardson a “Judas” as being, well, Silly and Over the top. Bill O’Reilly was “Appalled”, Diane Sawyer was asking about 30 shekels, and Keith Olbermann was Looking for Jesus in the Analogy. And he says that he did this On Purpose. That he wanted this reaction.

Damn. That’s Beautiful.

He goes on to ask “Was it a desperate gambit for attention? Was I just trying to prove my point that both Samantha Power‘s resignation from the Obama campaign for calling Sen. Clinton a monster and the Obama campaign hysterically promoting Geraldine Ferraro‘s misguided statements were equally silly and superficial? “END QUOTE. And says the Answer is No. Mr. Carville said it was the Reaction of a man who is a Friend to both Hillary and Bill Clinton, to deep Disloyalty on the part of someone he thought should have been more loyal.

That simple.

This is a Man who puts a High price on Personal Loyalty, A man who saw what Bill Richardson did, and reacted like any man would. He defended his friends and attacked a man who he saw as being less than good. He thinks Silence would have said Just as Much as the words he spoke if he (Richardson) thought poorly of Hillary. Again Quoting the Story:

“Bill Richardson’s response was that the Clinton people felt they were entitled to the presidency. In my mind, that is a debatable hypothesis. But, even more than that, I know that a former president of the United States who appointed someone to two Senate-confirmed positions is entitled to have his phone calls returned.” END QUOTE. For the whole story, click here—> http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/28/AR2008032802826.html

Read the Piece yourself. I found it fascinating.

As if to counter the piece, Bill Richardson made a statement of His own, saying that He will not stoop to The Level of Carville here. And he does make one valid point. He says that loyalty to America is more Important than Personal Loyalty. I can almost buy that. But where does loyalty to America lie? Is it Loyalty to America to Turn your back On one candidate for another? Is it loyalty to America to say that Hillary’s people think they are Entitled to The Presidency, without saying how you came to that conclusion? I don’t think so. That sounds like Mister Richardson is Creating personal affiliations for personal gain on the coattails of Someone (Obama) he thinks will do something for him come election time, should he (Obama) win the Nomination.

In Other News, Joe Lieberman has Completely lost His Tiny Little Mind. He has Likened John McCain to Former President John Fitzgerald Kennedy. Quoting the CNN Story : “I’m a Democrat who came to the party in the era of President John F. Kennedy,” Lieberman told George Stephanopoulos on ABC’s “This Week. ”It’s a strange turn of the road when I find among the candidates running this year that the one, in my opinion, closest to the Kennedy legacy, the John F. Kennedy legacy, is John S. McCain.” END QUOTE. Mr. Lieberman Never, at least in the article, says HOW he is The closest of all the candidates to That legacy. And I will be truthful with you, Unless He means that they both served in the Navy and were both war heroes….That’s the Only real connection I can see. And while That is a Good thing, I don’t see it as nearly enough to Link these two together.

Perhaps we should ask America’s Favorite Obama Supporter, Ted Kennedy, what he thinks about it.

In News From Iraq, Moqtada Al-Sadr seems to have called back his fighters, after Americans join in and gave close air support to the Iraqi Military fighting in Basra this weekend. As you know, He had said he wasn’t about to give up, and looked to have the upper hand at one point while fighting the Iraqi Military alone. Then we came in, Bombed the Shit out of Him, and He decided To go home. Good Boy. Now go crawl away and die like the Bug you are.

I don’t want to see Americans In Iraq Anymore. I don’t Like it. I don’t Think they Belong there. But If they Are going to be there, Let’s see some Good old fashioned Ass whipping. We belong fighting In Afghanistan and Pakistan, looking more closely for Osama Bin Laden and The Leaders Of Al-Qaeda, not Iraq. But if we gotta be there, and at this point Our Favorite Decider In Chief Georgie Porgie say we have to, Then I say we do the job and do it right. These insurgents are, until we leave, the enemy, so let’s kill these bastards and be done with it, so we can go home and have a little peace and quiet.

The One REALLY Bad thing about this, is that It seems to be driving a wedge between Shiite forces In the South of Iraq, and Could lead to Civil War between the Shiites. I think we might want to avoid that. That would be bad. Nailing Al-Sadr and other enemies of the regime at the Price of a total meltdown and civil war is Just insane. Let’s try to avoid that, Mr. President.

That’s It for Politics, News, and Opinion. Onto personal stuff.

But there really isn’t much today. I only played guitar for about 15 minutes. A few minutes worth of the ole 8 bar blues. Some work On one of the chord structures I told you about yesterday. Some noodling. And I didn’t bring My guitar Into work with me either. What I did instead was I brought In my DVD Player and I’m a Gonna watch some Movies. Let’s see,I think I’ll show you a list of what I brought with me:

History of The World Part I.

Throne Of Blood

Kingdom of Heaven

Braveheart

Looney tunes Golden collection #2 Disc One (Bugs Bunny)

Rush In Rio.

Now I won’t get to watch it all, I am at work, But I’m sure that I’ll get at least One Movie, One Cartoon, and a few songs from the Rush dvd in before My night is done here.

Sorry about not having anything really music related here, so to make up for it, I will provide you a link for some cool stuff, at a site that I only very recently (maybe 5 minutes ago) found: http://www.guitarology.com/

It looks like there are a Number of portions of the site that are still “Under construction” But there are still enough working pages there to give you hours and hours of stuff to play with.

Enjoy!

That’s It for me. Jam On!

Today’s Nuggets: The media want to maintain their intimate relation to state power. They want to get leaks, they want to get invited to the press conferences. They want to rub shoulders with the Secretary of State, all that kind of business. To do that, you’ve got to play the game, and playing the game means telling their lies, serving as their disinformation apparatus. Noam Chomsky

Loyalty means nothing unless it has at its heart the absolute principle of self-sacrifice. Woodrow Wilson

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Usually When I go to write My political stuff, The First Thing I do is go to http://www.cnn.com/POLITICS/ . No different Today than any other day. I glimpse it while Opening another Instance of IE. What do I see? A picture of the Wheel from the wheel of Fortune! I’m thinking…. “Oh good Lord I’m in hell, Vanna White or Pat Sajak is Jumping into Politics” Luckily I read the Blurb next to the Picture of The wheel after I minimize the second Instance of IE and It says “Candidates spin TV ads towards “Wheel” Audience.” I think ….”WHEW! Dodged a Bullet there.”

Then I have a thought. Why the “Wheel of fortune”? I read the story and find out that, just like any other advertising scheme, it’s about product placement. After the News, Before the Primetime Shows, Inexpensive and Lots of people watch. All three campaign have spent there, Obama with more than $1,000,000, The Clinton Camp with $815,000 and The McCain Camp with Just under 37¢ …. Ok, It’s actually $168,000. Sorry, I could Not help Myself.

Then I read the story, and That’s just the tip of The Advertising Iceberg. The three Campaigns have spent $36,700,000 on Local News ads. $17,000,000 for Clinton, $16,000,000 for Obama and Just Under $4,000,000 For McCain. And they haven’t spent one thin dime On me. Damn. 🙂 For the whole story, click the Link —> http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/03/28/wheel.of.fortune/index.html

In Other Politics, It’s Time to check the Polls Once again. In Pennsylvania The Only poll out for the last week is One By Rasmussen that Has Hillary Up by a Mere 10%, with 12% of the Populous Undecided. That’s the lowest Numbers for Hillary there In a Month. That Time, 2/26, Hillary lead was narrowed to a Mere 4%. In every Cycle there are Ups and downs. No worries.

In North Carolina there are two new Polls out, and It looks Good For Barack Obama, Both of them Have Barack with a Fairly Comfortable lead. Obama, according to PPP Has a 21% advantage with 11 percent Undecided, and Insider Advantage has Him leading by 15% with 17% Undecided. Ya Know, That’s a Lot of Undecideds, but those numbers will tighten Up as primary time gets closer. And It would not surprise me to see an Obama 60-40 split here.

In Indiana There is no change. The last poll that I can find is from 2/26 – 2/28 that has Obama leading by 5 points, 41% to 36%,With 23% undecided! The Poll was done by survey U.S.A. . Kinda makes you wonder where the Polls from Indiana are. There’s 72 delegates in that state. I guess people out there just don’t care that much. Otherwise, I’d be able to find out. If you have Any info On Indiana polls regarding the Upcoming State Primary, Drop me a Line. I want to know what’s going on out there!

Earth Hour is On the way. At 8:00 p.m. tonight Lights go out for One hour. Why you say should I turn off my lights? I might bump my knee or Drop My drink!….Well, It’s to highlight the threat of Climate change. Feel free to join in even if you are a republican and don’t believe in global warming or any of that. You’ll save money On electricity, if nothing else, and it will significantly decrease the amount of greenhouse gases generated from the production of Electricity, if only for that hour. I’m gonna kill all the Unnecessary power here at the office at 8:00 p.m. I hope you will all join me in this. Hell, Ya might even have Fun in the dark out there… Go for it! Click for a story about it here —> http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iWEjNjkf_cEeuCMbeDumW2q75VtwD8VNBJE01

Now if we could only learn to live more efficiently we wouldn’t need things like this to raise awareness of environmental concerns. And the Earth would be a Better place to live. What a Concept.

There’s a Movie out there I want to see. I don’t know when I’m going to get a chance to see it. But I want to. It’s called “Fitna”. Officials In Holland were braced for Riots, but there seemed to be less reaction then expected. The 17 minute films maker, a Dutch right wing dutch legislator named Geert Wilders ,says he just wants to spark debate. But In Afghanistan there have already been riots, but Like I said, Nothing in his Home country. Hmmmm….When I see the Movie I’ll tell ya what I think of it.

In News that Surprises absolutely No-one, President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe has been charged with rigging the Latest Zimbabwe elections. Quoting the Reuters story: As polls closed, Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC party said their voters and officials had been turned away from polling stations and erasable voting ink was used to enable fraud by government supporters. Combined with inflated voter rolls and the printing of 3 million surplus ballot papers, this “ensures that there will be multiple voting,” said MDC secretary-general Tendai Biti. Observers from the Pan-African parliament said in a letter to the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission that they had found more than 8,000 non-existent people registered on a piece of empty land in a Harare constituency. End Quote.

Why can’t this guy just let go and let his people free? Well, besides his blinding addiction to power and his insatiable greed, i mean. Because if he’s gonna cheat that hard, why even have the election? You’re a dictator by other means. You have nothing to do with democracy whatsoever, so why the pretence? I would ask That President Mugabe of Zimbabwe give up the Title President, and Take a more fitting Title, Like Fuhrer, or Dictator.

This is what happens when government runs amuck. And that ladies and Gentlemen, is why I love America. For all the Crap that Goes On here on the Political front, There is not a Snowballs chance in hell of Election Rigging That widespread happening here. I’m not saying It hasn’t happened on a some small level, or doesn’t happen at all. But not to the point of Millions of stuffed ballots and erasable ink used in Balloting. The American people would Not have it. There would be revolution in the streets.

I have heard of Sporadic Things happening in small counties here in America, but Not on the level that it is claimed is going on in Zimbabwe. If you are ever put in a Position where you’re even Thinking Your vote won’t be Counted, Yell Bloody F****** Murder from The Hilltops! Don’t let them Do it to you! No Matter where you Are. Fight Back! Don’t let them, Don’t let ANYONE take away your right to vote.

That’s It for Politics, News, and Opinion. Onto Personal stuff.

This may be the first instance of me repeating a title anagram, Having used this one on November 24th, I went with “Aunt Iris Grunting” that Time. Lucky I don’t really have an Aunt Iris. And I’m sure that even if I did, I’d not want to hear her Grunting.

Run: 5.45 Miles In 42:37.10 for a 7:49.19 M/M Pace. This one was actually pretty hard. Not fast, not long, But difficult. My Hamstrings were bothering me from the Get go, and My left foot, while better, is still not 100%. Not to mention it was chillier and windier than it has been the last few days. 37 degrees and winds gusting to 25 MPH. I’ve had fun before. That’s not it. It is now 8+ hours after the run and I am still sore all over. Looking forward to a slow night tonight, so I can rest relax and recuperate. But I’m at work, so I just might have to bust my ass. we’ll see.

A two chord Pattern, G7sus4 and D7sus4. play these chords by using the Standard minor chord template, and drop the fifth and octave by a whole tone each. For the D7sus4 play the 5th 4th and 3rd strings open, second string first finger, first fret. Quite possibly the easiest chord ever! But with this I will then add a Picking pattern and add a simple melody over it within the confines of the Chord. It’s easy and it sounds nice.

Played a few other chord patterns. Nothing spectacular. Also played a little bit of the Ole 8 bar blues. Had some fun with that. A good day playing, all in all, even if i was a bit short on time.

That’s It for me. Jam On!

Today’s Nuggets: Man is the religious animal. He is the only religious animal. He is the only animal that has the True Religion -— several of them. He is the only animal that loves his neighbor as himself and cuts his throat, if his theology isn’t straight. He has made a graveyard of the globe in trying his honest best to smooth his brother’s path to happiness and heaven. Mark Twain

No matter what someone else has done, it still matters how we treat people. It matters to our humanity that we treat offenders according to standards that we recognize as just. Justice is not revenge — it’s deciding for a solution that is oriented towards peace, peace being the harder but more human way of reacting to injury. That is the very basis of the idea of rights. Judith Butler

AND TURN OUT THOSE LIGHTS!

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Kids are stupid, here’s yer proof. At North Dakota state university, During a Charity fund-raising event for diabetes research, A bunch of kids apparently did a Comedy skit. No big deal, you say. What’s wrong with that? One of the kids dressed as the Obama Girl did a Lap Dance for The Obama character… A white kid in black-face apparently. THAT’S a Nono! BAD KID! Keep the Stupid at the Keg Party dammit! That’s where the Stupid belongs! Not on stage for everyone to see! That is just ever so slightly RACIST, and these kids need to get some kind of reprimand or something for inappropriate behavior. Even if the kid meant no harm, It’s still a hearkening back to the bad old days, and needs to Addressed. Somebody Schmack that little Bastard! And then, well, I’m gonna quote the CNN Story on this…”In the background, two male students dressed as cowboys simulated anal sex while holding an Obama sign that one student ripped at the conclusion of the 30-second performance, the Forum reported.” END QUOTE. Oops! Now THAT’S just Not right! They are Funny as hell at Brokeback College, Ain’t they. MEANWHILE …. the college says “One of the issues here is how do we balance what our policies and expectations about behavior are with the issue of freedom of speech,” Stoskopf said. “Where does all of that get us?”END QUOTE. The Investigation could take until May 9th, when college is over. No such thing as accountability up there now isn’t there. To read the story, click here—> http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/03/28/campus.obamaskit.ap/index.html

I am all for free speech, and I will defend the right of anyone to say anything they desire in any way they desire, They have a legal right to just that. Technically they are within their rights. But C’mon fellas. Half White Obama In Black-face getting a Lap-dance from Obama Girl….dammit it’s entertaining, but Black-face? Could not find an Obama Mask anywhere? And the Simulated Anal? Wassupwitdat? I wanna Know who was F****** who! Was it supposed to be Bush and The American Public? Bush and McCain? Jake Gyllenhal and the School president? Inquiring Minds want to know!

Onto political news, Senators Christopher Dodd and Patrick Leahy have called for Senator Hillary Clinton to Drop out of the Race for the Democratic Nomination for President. Both senators have said that She has every right, if she wants to, to be in the race. Quoting Senator Dodd from The CNN Story: “I mean, if a person wants to stay in the race, stay in the race,” he told the National Journal, a Washington magazine. “But if you have enough people rallying behind what appears to be the likely choice, and I believe the choice is Barack Obama… then I think you have to step up to the plate and say, ‘Enough is enough.’ We want this to be over with.” END QUOTE. The next sentence in the story is to me the Most telling. A Political professor at The University of Virginia was probably behind the remarks, saying that Senators With the credentials of Dodd and Leahy usually would not speak Like this On their own without encouragement from The “Obama Heirarchy”.

That’s just great. Does he seriously think that she’ll give up that easily? Of course not. I think there are at least two possible motives, and stop me if you’ve heard me say this in the last few days….oh wait you can’t this is a Blog…Sorry… 🙂

ONE: To plant the Idea in the Head of Voters that This race is Over and that It is Inevitable that Obama will be the Victor. One Word. BULLSHIT. Voters are not that stupid. They know how to count. and read. 130 delegates and a few thousand votes are what separates these two. Giving up would be silly.

TWO: To prop up his own sagging hopes, to make it look to Those Already in his camp, that things are going better than they are. He probably Knows that He can’t Get the Nomination on the strength of the Delegates he’ll receive in these last few primaries, so He has these things said to rally his Own troops and make things look better then they really are.

THREE: To Plant in The Minds of Those Super-delegates who are Uncommitted to Drop their Uncommitted status and Join the Obama Camp. This to me Is the most Likely of the three. But it is just as dumb nevertheless. While Voters aren’t Stupid, what are the elected representatives of these people supposed to be?

They are supposed to be Elected Officials, Susceptible to external pressure from the media. If Obama’s camp can Make the statement Hillary should give up, and get High powered officials like these two to help do it by saying it without having to say it himself, That sends a powerful message to those who are on the fence and Not certain who they are pulling for to Pull for him. Insidious. Evil. Masterful. The Man Obama is Subtle in his subterfuges. And Frankly this looks to be an Attempt by the Obama Camp to bring that pressure to bear ,Via the Media, Onto susceptible members of the Democratic party who, running for seats of there own, might want the endorsement of One barack Obama. After all if he can make This kind of appeal, He must be a winner right? Especially if He is Such a Great Nominee that he can force, or attempt to force his opponent to quit with just the force of His personality and the words of those around him. The strategy has a flaw tho.

They are Not Idiots, These superdelegates, and they are Not all that desperate for votes. With the Democrats looking to make Big gains in this election cycle, It should be relatively easy for them to secure the vast majority of their seats without the aid of Someone who is NOT THE NOMINEE. The only real thing he can provide them Is good press now. And good press now is Not good press In November. Elections are Not won 7+ months before the election, and Not by people still on the stump themselves.

A personal Appeal to all those super delegates out there on the Fence. DON’T BUY IT. Listen to your heart. Listen to your conscience. Do Not succumb to Big Brother and his New speak Tactics. That is exactly what they are. A propaganda tool, and a masterfully crafted one at that. Vote your heart and mind. Vote for who you think is best. And if That is Barack Obama, so be it. If It is Hillary, So be It. But Don’t cave to stupid tactics Like this. Let the will of the people guide you.

That’s about it for News, Politics, and Opinion. Onto personal stuff.

Sweat: 7.45 Miles in 58:04.39 for a 7:51.69 M/M Pace. This one had a few rough patches. No stops or anything, nothing Major wrong, but An issue popped up. The bottom of my left foot is sore. Very sore. I’m not sure what happened, but it was sore from the beginning of the run. It hurt making left hand turns and pivoting on that left foot. It feels Like the Plantar fascia. Hopefully it’s nothing serious, but it was pretty bad out there today. Everything else was fine. It was otherwise, a good run. Kept the pace even, if just a little slow, knowing I was going long (for me) Stride rate wasn’t too high, call it 180 Steps per minute. 30-31 steps per ten seconds. I kept the stride length short, especially after running into the foot pain (pun intended) Good News, I did something I haven’t done In Months! ….Nononon Not That! Me and the Wife are at that a fair bit, I mean Working Out! Ok, It wasn’t really a workout, no weights involved. 30 Minutes of Deep Knee Bends and unweighted punches…almost shadowboxing, except that its just throwing two punches for every deep knee bend. I did the Deep knee bends at about the rate of 38-40 per minute for 30 minutes, and then a few sets of Crunches. It may be ultra light, but It’s a Start, and I wanted to err on the side of caution, rather then go too hard and Not be able to do anything tomorrow. THAT would be F****** Stupid.

Guitar: Played for about an hour today. Started out with the Normal exercises.

Single string alternate picking chromatic exercises, Ascending, descending, and Alternating between the two.

Major Scale exercises, 2 octave Variety, all keys.

Minor Scale exercises, 2 octave Variety, all keys.

One version of the Pentatonic Minor scale, 2 octave variety, all keys.

String skipping exercise, as delineated in yesterday’s Music section.

Pivot point exercises.

Simple four and five note riffs, made up on the spot, in all keys. Basically modal in nature. Example: simple riff using the Lydian Mode. play the notes as follows, Numbers are scale degrees: 2,3,2,4,2,5,2,6. In the key of F that would be G,A,G,B,G,C,G,D. Move up one fret, repeat. keep going until you run out of neck or patience. Your choice. 🙂

Made up a few little things, Played a few simple chord sequences. One of them sounded Like that Alvin Lee and ten years after song, “I’d Love to change the world” is the name of it, I think. Em, chromatic run(e,f,f#g) to G, A, chromatic run(a, a#b,c) to C, B. g a b and c here are all major chords In case you were wondering.

Twas fun all in all. If you really try, you can get alot done in a short period of time.

That’s it for me. Jam On!

Today’s Nuggets, Aesop’s Fables today:

The Farmer and the Stork

A FARMER placed nets on his newly-sown plowlands and caught a number of Cranes, which came to pick up his seed. With them he trapped a Stork that had fractured his leg in the net and was earnestly beseeching the Farmer to spare his life. “Pray save me, Master,” he said, “and let me go free this once. My broken limb should excite your pity. Besides, I am no Crane, I am a Stork, a bird of excellent character; and see how I love and slave for my father and mother. Look too, at my feathers — they are not the least like those of a Crane.” The Farmer laughed aloud and said, “It may be all as you say, I only know this: I have taken you with these robbers, the Cranes, and you must die in their company.”

Birds of a feather flock together.

The Lion and the Three Bulls

THREE BULLS for a long time pastured together. A Lion lay in ambush in the hope of making them his prey, but was afraid to attack them while they kept together. Having at last by guileful speeches succeeded in separating them, he attacked them without fear as they fed alone, and feasted on them one by one at his own leisure.

Deus Ex Machina. That is what the Democrats seem to need at this point in the proceedings. A Deus ex Machina is a device used by writers to get characters that are in an inextricable mess out of it by improbable means. Let’s looks at why. First, The party itself has decided, between Barack Obama and Howard Dean, That form is more important than the people who are being represented, For Mister Dean in the Form of Michigan and Florida not being counted, and For Mr. Obama in the form of letting his subordinates call for Hillary to quit for the “good of the Party”, as well as allowing a Michigan vote to slip away on his say so. You can see the thoughts each have here from their actions. ex pede Herculem

Mister Dean’s seems to be a thought that involves His will and His alone being the most important in the party. His thought here is blind power over the party. He does not seem to understand that real leadership involves the concept of Compromise. That any real solution to this problem should involve the compromise of His wants, of making his will subservient to the will of the people. It is we the people right?But he can only think of his party’s rules here. I’ve said it before, The Rules are here to guide us, Not Bind us. If they need changing to fit a new circumstance, we should not be so inextricably bound to these rules that they put us in a corner. We should shape the world to fit our needs in this case, Mr. Dean. Cuiusvis hominis est errare, nullius nisi insipientis in errore perseverare.

Barack Obama and his people seem to have a one simple thought on their minds. Hillary is his Biggest Obstacle to getting into the White House. Like John McCain isn’t an Obstacle to Overcome. Like his association to Rev. Wright isn’t an obstacle to Overcome. Like his own lack of experience isn’t an obstacle to Overcome. Like your inability to take voters from Hillary isn’t an obstacle to overcome. If you think you have only one bridge to cross, you may, unfortunately for you, be right….This bridge—> pons asinorum. Why call for her to leave the game when it’s not even close to ending? Why have your people made it look like it is inevitable that you will win, when it is not? You haven’t nailed down the nomination yet, and you won’t by the looks of it, even after the voting is done. Neither candidate can win outright, you cannot claim victory. People who use their heads will see that this is just a ploy on your part to put the image of your victory in the heads of people to make your nomination seem more inevitable. The tactic is absurd, Only an idiot would buy it. Your argumentum ad hominem goes Nowhere. Nice try tho.

What would I like to see happen with these two things? I’d like to see Obama’s people shut up and let the Voters decide who gets in and who doesn’t, and not pretend the game is over when it isn’t, and For Howard Dean to Do his Job and Get ALL the Democrats seated at the Convention, however it gets Done.

The latin thing here may seem a bit silly, but I liked it. And learning is fun. So why not?

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Yep. you read it right. No politics today. I’ve had a fairly busy day, and frankly there was just no time for it. I promise I’ll get to it tomorrow. Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and John McCain will all survive til tomorrow if I don’t write about them Tonight. And If they don’t, we’ll then, Enjoy the Afterlife If there is one!

Let’s see where to begin. At the Beginning I guess. I woke Up a bit early. Got The laundry. Found out That it all wasn’t there, turned around, went back, all ready to argue, but it was right there and they apologized for not giving to me the first time. Cool.

After that I Went Running: 5.45 Miles in 41:12.00 for a 7:33.57 M/M Pace. I was pretty fast today. Fast for the Moment that is. I have run this distance about 30 or so seconds faster per mile than this, and I know I can again, but I’m just not in good enough shape. 10 pounds overweight or so. Not working out at all. Just now getting back to a descent running schedule. My Stride rate is definitely Up where it was before the Injury 5+ months ago. I checked it 3 times today during a fairly hard run and it was uniform 32 steps per ten seconds. 192 steps per minute. That’s a very fast stride rate. I cannot tho get the stride length going to save my life. At least part of that is the lack of working out. I generally do an average of 1,000 Deep knee bends per day + the running when i am at my peak. I’ll have to start working out soon. The speed will come. No worries.

After the run I came home, ate, cleaned myself up and played some guitar.

Guitar: I played the regular start-up stuff. Alternate picking Single string chromatic exercises. Ascending, descending and Alternating. I also did the 2 Octave Minor and Major and Pentatonic scales in all keys. No problems like I had the last two days on the Upper reaches of the Fretboard doing the Major scale stuff. Nice. Did an exercise I haven’t done in a Long time. Alternate picking string skipping exercises. This is the same as regular single string chromatic exercises, except that i skip strings when I do it. numbers given are frets. Example: 6th string, 1,2,3,4 4th string,1,2,3,4 2nd string 1,2,3,4 5th string 1,2,3,4 3rd string 1,2,3,4 1st string 1,2,3,4, 6th string 2,3,4,5…ETC ETC ETC. I also played several pivot exercises, two string variety, similar to but not the same as the ones I did yesterday. Played a bunch of chord progressions. Minimal time to play today, but as you can see, I took advantage as much as was possible.

After I played, Me and the Wife went out for a trip to Manhattan. We went for two reasons. One was to look for some music books by and or about Allan Holdsworth. Of the musical variety, Not looking for an autobiography, not sure there even is one. The second, and Main reason was to Go to a Book signing By Alton Brown, for his New Book about “Feasting On Asphalt 2: The River Run” Twas Cool. Met the Man prior to The book signing, and he was a pretty relaxed. Seemed Like a Nice enough guy. When he came to where Me and My wife were, which was outside of the Borders next to Madison Square Garden, and kept apart from the First group of autograph seekers with a barricade. He asked what was so special about those people Up front. I said They must be the pretty People. He responded with a Quick “The beautiful people, Huh? well, some of you look kinda clean over here” Something like that. twas pretty funny, I liked the Sarcasm, especially as how my wife was telling me I looked like a dirtbag for Not wearing a clean Hooded sweatshirt out to see him. Kewl. 😛

The signing itself went very fast…..after we finished waiting on line for 45 minutes. But we did show Up fairly early, a half hour before the thing was supposed to start. But when we Got In, and the line got moving, things went quick, like I said. When I shook his hand inside, he greeted me Like I’d Known him for years. If he was having a bad day or was tired or anything like that It didn’t show. He seemed genuinely happy to see me and My wife. Made a Joke that The Wife Told Him She was Single. I laughed and Said Cool! Go for it Hon! I thanked Him for Everything, He Signed the Book with Me and My Wifes Name, and His, and “Cook Smart” which is what he did with My wife’s book a few seconds prior to signing mine. Cool. If your reading This Alton, Thanks Much, brother, for everything. You’ve turned a Shitty cook Into a descent one, which is more than I thought possible before I started watching “Good Eats”.

We could not find anything By Allan Holdsworth, so me and the Wife, starving at this point, went to ruby Tuesday’s for dinner. A Nice place, But Expensive. Think T.G.I. Fridays, only twice as expensive. After that, me and the wife stumbled Onto the Macy’s flower show. We went in and took Picture of the Flowers. Pretty tho they were, It wasn’t exactly My cup of tea. Not My thing, But she Liked It, so we stayed for a Bit and did the tourist thing. It was Nice. Funny Moment. There’s this Slightly overweight Hispanic woman handing out these scented card things with some stinkwater on ’em by J-Lo. A fragrance for Women. Hands It to me and tells me to Give it a Try. I say to Her ” I’m Sorry but I have a Penis, That’s not really for me.” The Wife only heard the first bit, and could not stop giggling. I didn’t know why until she turned around and asked why I was apologizing for having a dick. I told her what went on and laughs were had by all. there is more But I won’t get into it too much here. Funny shit, tho.

My feet are sore, And I am broke, But my wife and I had a really fun time out there. Oh yeah, we could have gone to the Rangers Devils game, which was going on Right next door to The Book Signing. If there had been tickets. But I’m not sure they would have had any. Would have been Nice tho. The Rangers won BTW! YESH!

That’s It for Me. Go Jam!

Today’s Nuggets: It is often said, mainly by the ‘no-contests’, that although there is no positive evidence for the existence of God, nor is there evidence against his existence. So it is best to keep an open mind and be agnostic. At first sight that seems an unassailable position, at least in the weak sense of Pascal’s wager. But on second thoughts it seems a cop-out, because the same could be said of Father Christmas and tooth fairies. There may be fairies at the bottom of the garden. There is no evidence for it, but you can’t prove that there aren’t any, so shouldn’t we be agnostic with respect to fairies? Richard Dawkins

But thus I counsel you, my friends: Mistrust all in whom the impulse to punish is powerful. They are people of a low sort and stock; the hangman and the bloodhound look out of their faces. Mistrust all who talk much of their justice! Verily, their souls lack more than honey. And when they call themselves the good and the just, do not forget that they would be pharisees, if only they had — power. Friedrich Nietzsche

Good as far as it goes, but if you make a statement on The stump, you had better be able and ready to back that statement up with actions once elected, which is why the average Clinton backer has a Problem with Samantha Power’s statements regarding the pullout. To remind you, just in case you had forgotten, Obama has said that he will have the troops out in 16 months. Then Samantha, in a BBC Interview made a statement that blew that concept apart. She said, in essence, that it Could be longer then that, because it all depends on what’s going on on the ground there and the Concept of getting one combat battalion out every two months might not be feasible. She also said that Obama would, Obviously, have to rely on the judgments of The Military to make the right calls as far as troop withdrawal is concerned. No worries as far as that goes. But you have to make those statements On the stump to tell people the truth about what you’re gonna do as president, not say one thing and then do another. That’s what She said Obama would do. Her words, Not mine, Not anyone Else’s.

A second quote from the story: “Clinton advisers said Obama’s entire campaign was based on his attempts to contrast his early opposition to the Iraq war with Clinton’s vote in favor of a resolution authorizing the use of force in that conflict — and fatally weakened by any suggestion that he might alter his current position.” END QUOTE. He Had my Unwavering support here until statements were made to the contrary to his “16 month” pullout plan. He had the better plan then Hillary, Or so i thought. Until I found out that he had the Exact same plan as Hillary and just wasn’t saying anything about it in public, because he wanted his plan to look better than Hers. She has said from the Get go that She would go to the Military, The Joint chiefs of staff, The Pentagon boys ETC. ETC. No change at all in her plan. No fluctuation.

She has had a gameplan from the beginning and she is sticking to it. She’s not just saying anything to get elected, Like Obama. Mind you she’s said one dumb thing. The whole Bosnia Sniper fire thing. But Like I’ve commented on here on a great many occasions, He’s played the game in a considerably dirty manner, played an entirely Uglier game than Hillary has. However…..

In Other News, Bill Clinton put on His Pads and laid out a few hits on his Wife’s Opponents. Speaking to a group of Voters in West Virginia, he spoke about the rough tone of the Campaign. Quoting the CNN Story: “If a politician doesn’t wanna get beat up, he shouldn’t run for office,” the former president said in Parkersburg, West Virginia. “If a football player doesn’t want to get tackled or want the risk of an occasional clip he shouldn’t put the pads on.” END QUOTE. Go get’em Bill. It’s a rough world out there. Wear a helmet. 🙂 Link to the story here—> http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/03/26/bill-clinton-lets-just-saddle-up-and-have-an-argument/

He also spoke about people who have recently made statements calling for Hillary to give up, In the name of Party Unity. Quoting again the same CNN Story: “In spite of the best efforts of a lot of the elites in the media and other places it looks like we are gonna have an opportunity for everybody to vote in this primary, and I think your vote should be counted, don’t you? “I know Hillary’s gaining on them when they say, ‘Oh, let’s shut this down now; we don’t want to be divided. Let’s just disenfranchise several of the million people who could vote.” END QUOTE.

I’ve heard all the talk, from Bill Richardson to The Obamamamas, calling for Hillary to quit. I, for the Life of Me, don’t Understand it. She is not that far behind in the Delegate count, and Until the Mississippi primary, she had the Lead in The Overall Popular vote. She can, with the help of The Super delegates win the Nomination, just like Obama. She can’t win enough delegates to win it outright prior to the Nomination convention, But neither can Obama, he would have to win by an Overwhelmingly large margin, and it does not look like he can pull it off at this point. So why quit? What’s in it for her? Nothing, and she has everything to gain by staying and fighting for every vote. Right now Her future, as far as this election is concerned, is looking bright. I’m not saying Obama is Done. He’s Not. But The tide has begun to turn I Think. Here’s to a Good Hard Fight!

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/03/26/candidates.relatives/index.html <— This story I am not going to comment on, Just read it…… well maybe a short blurb. It seems that all the candidates are related to just about everybody. From Angelina Jolie (HillaryClinton) to Brad Pitt (Barack Obama) to King Louis VII (John McCain). The bad news here for the candidates is that we can now make even more jokes about them. About Obama being related to Gerald Ford and George Bush. And John McCain. The Pitt Jolie thing ought to make for some very funny moments as well. As well as Hillary being related to Both Celine Dion and Madonna. Can’t wait for the Jokes to start flying. 🙂

That’s It for the Politics, News, and Opinion. Onto personal stuff.

Run: 7.45 Miles in 57:51.74 for a M/M Pace of 7:46.00. Nice. After a few days off more than I wanted to take, It felt good to be back On the road. And since it was a Very nice day out, sunny and 58 when I went running, I decided to go a little long. My hammies were barking at me, as were my calves and feet after this one, but that’s not too much of a surprise. I had a few extra days off and them Go on a fairly long , for me, run. I’m thinking I’m gonna go long tomorrow as well. Not sure tho. we’ll see how things are tomorrow.

Guitar: Played a fair bit, even tho I didn’t get started until after 9:00 p.m. After playing My normal startup exercises, those being the Alternate picking single string chromatic exercises, I did Single Octave Minor scales, starting on the 6th, 5th, 4th, and 3rd strings, In all keys of course. Did One version of the Pentatonic Scale, in all keys. I also played the Major scale, 2 octave variety, In all keys. Then I did a few exercises. A few 2 string Pivot point exercises. One of each set of two adjoining strings. I’ll explain one or two here. for the 6th and 5th I used the root as the pivot point and did a very simple major scale run, in scale degrees,1,2,1,3,1,4,1,5 the one half step up, 1,5,1,4,1,3,1,2 and on like that. For the 2nd and 3rd, I played a simple riff as well. using the twelfth fret as an example I did the following, with the first two notes on the 2nd string. c,b,c,a,c,g,c,f. Then drop down One fret and repeat the shape, then drop one more, etc, etc, etc… Had fun playing. Played a bunch of chord progressions as well, mostly simple stuff, but I made it sound pretty. Goofed in a few places as well. same kind of issue as yesterday. The reach on the upper frets when playing the lower strings, 17th and 18th fret, whil doing major scale practice. Got over it, but It annoyed the hell out of me to have to play the same portion of the exercise three times because I could not play it right and kept missing notes. On the whole, I had fun playing today.

That’s It for me, everyone, Big day tomorrow, I’ll tell ya about it after it’s over. Jam On!

Today’s Nuggets By Paul-Henri Thiry, baron d’Holbach, Via Wikiquote: When we examine the opinions of men, we find that nothing is more uncommon, than common sense; or, in other words, they lack judgment to discover plain truths, or to reject absurdities, and palpable contradictions.

“Suns are extinguished or become corrupted, planets perish and scatter across the wastes of the sky; other suns are kindled, new planets formed to make their revolutions or describe new orbits, and man, an infinitely minute part of a globe which itself is only an imperceptible point in the immense whole, believes that the universe is made for himself.”